ExxonMobil Guyana plans to boost production at its Yellowtail offshore oil project by roughly 10% as it conducts a new optimization study, company President Alistair Routledge said on March 19.
Yellowtail, which started production in August 2025, reached its initial target production of 250,000 barrels per day (b/d) by November. ExxonMobil has since pushed output to an upper operating limit of about 263,000 b/d, according to Routledge, during a recent press conference.
The company now believes production could be increased further to around 290,000 b/d, subject to government cooperation and technical assessment. That would represent an increase of about 10% from current levels.
Routledge said, “We’ve done some safety analysis on what would it take to minimize or reduce that debottlenecking. And we actually just submitted, in the last few days, a proposal to the Ministry of Natural Resources for us to be allowed to conduct some tests to increase that capacity, above 263,000 b/d.
Exxon has submitted a proposal to the Guyana government seeking permission to conduct a study on how to increase output safely, Routledge said.
If achieved, the higher rate would make Yellowtail the largest producing development offshore Guyana to date.
Production optimization has become a standard feature of Exxon’s operations in the Stabroek Block. The company typically brings projects online at an initial target, then evaluates whether output can be increased without compromising safety.
The approach has already added significant capacity across earlier developments and shows what is possible for upcoming projects, including Uaru and Whiptail, both of which are designed to start at 250,000 b/d.
Exxon operates the Stabroek Block consortium with a 45% stake, alongside Hess and China’s CNOOC.
